Good News Christmas Eve

Editor OGN Daily
14 minutes ago
4 min read

Wednesday's eclectic global round up of positive news stories.

Dollar Bill Portrait

A portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, commissioned by President James Madison, goes under the hammer at Christie's on 23 January 2026. The oil-on-canvas painting has an estimate of $500,000 to $1 million. Painted by Stuart, the most prolific portraitist of Washington, the work belongs to a group of about 75 portraits in this pose that were produced around 1796. Madison commissioned the painting in 1804, though the artist did not complete it until 1811, reflecting Stuart’s often-delayed working process and his habit of revisiting popular compositions. Washington was known to dislike long portrait sittings, which is why Stuart relied on repeatable formats. Made in the “Athenaeum type” format, the work inspired Washington’s likeness on the one-dollar bill.

Turbo Moka with a series of gnarled ridges — Credit: Turbo Moka

Classic Design Updated

A sharp, new twist on the classic moka pot, the Turbo Moka packs a unique design that deletes the line between function and flair. The series of gnarled ridges and channels that encircle its base are designed to increase surface area and better focus flames on efficiency-boosted heating. Long story short, your morning coffee will make it to your mug in half the time. It's not easy to improve upon a beautifully timeless and functional classic that's found itself the subject of design museum exhibits around the world. But that's exactly what the Turbo Moka does by revising the near-century-old moka pot. Some might yell "blasphemy!" at the very idea of messing with such a longstanding, segment-defining design, but if all freethinkers thought that way, we'd still be locked in the distant past.

three parakeets sitting on a tree branch — Budgies, also known as parakeets

Neural Similarities

Parrots have an incredible ability for impressions, but how they manage such complex and flexible vocalizations has long been a mystery. A new study offers a piece of the puzzle by peeking into the parakeet brain, and finds remarkable similarities to the human neural region that controls speech. The research suggests parrots (and specifically parakeets) could be a model for studying human speech, helping scientists to better understand and treat speech disorders. It also adds to the growing stack of scientific findings that demonstrate “bird-brained” isn’t much of an insult after all. Many of our feathered friends show impressive memory, learning, counting, and reasoning abilities.

Bird Brain Should be a Compliment: Perhaps not for every bird, but certainly in the case of male song sparrows.

The Greenland Wildlife Overpass — Credit: Colorado Dept of Transportation

Wildlife Crossing

North America’s largest wildlife crossing is now open for business, and its top clientele are expected to be elk and pronghorn. The Greenland Wildlife Overpass covers nearly an acre (200 feet wide by 209 feet long) above Colorado’s Interstate 25. The structure completes a larger wildlife crossing system aimed at making 18 miles of highway safer for the animals that call the region home. “Wildlife now can kind of go on a little bit of an adventure that they weren’t [able to] before,” says Kara Van Hoose, with the state’s parks and wildlife department, adding: “Unfortunately, wildlife can’t read. So it’s not like we could put signs up saying, this is safe here, go here.” Though this particular crossing was made specifically with elk and pronghorn in mind, all manner of wildlife are expected to take advantage of the more open landscape, including moose, mule deer, black bears, mountain lions, and smaller animals.

Off to a strong start

Global Box Office

Avatar: Fire and Ash landed a massive $345 million at the global box office over its opening weekend. The original 2009 movie Avatar ended up making $2.9 billion globally - it's still the highest-grossing of all time. The sequel performed almost as well, hauling in $2.3 billion globally, making it the third highest-grossing film ever.

Rights of Dolphins

Scientists in South Korea are fighting to give dolphins the same legal rights as people to help save them. For years, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin populations have been declining due to runoff from fish farms, coastal erosion, noise pollution from construction sites, and entanglements from abandoned fishing gear.

Canada's Methane

Canada has announced long-anticipated new rules to dramatically reduce oil and gas methane emissions. The new regulations lay out a path for the world’s fourth-largest oil producer to cut its overall emissions of the highly potent greenhouse gas by 75 percent by 2035. While methane does not last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, it can have 80 times the climate-warming impact of CO2 over a 20-year period.

Last Minute

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"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." Calvin Coolidge

On This Day

24 December 1877: The U.S. Patent Office received an application for a “Phonograph or Speaking Machine” from inventor Thomas Edison. He had demonstrated the device for the first time a few weeks earlier, when he played his recorded (and sometimes unintelligible) voice to magazine staffers in New York City.